Gerhard Schröder tapped for Rosneft board

The Russian government has nominated Germany’s former chancellor Gerhard Schröder for the board of state oil giant Rosneft in a decree published Friday.

Schröder was selected as non-executive director of Rosneft amid a plan to expand the company’s board from nine to 11. Six other people, including Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin, Russia’s Minister of Energy Alexander Novak and ExxonMobil’s former executive Donald Humphreys, were also candidates.

Schröder, who has called himself a friend of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, is a vocal opponent of EU sanctions against Russia and Rosneft. Serving as German chancellor between 1998 and 2005, Schröder signed the Nord Stream pipeline contract and is currently the chairman of the eponymous pipeline consortium.

Russia holds a controlling 50% stake in Rosneft, the world’s largest listed oil company by output, while the rest is shared between different investors including BP, which owns 20% of the firm.